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“She would always be alone. Never with her soul mate. And she’d be expected to rule in your absence, once again, by herself.”
“And? Surely Willow can see that we aren’t compatible,” Jase replied pointedly.
“I’d kick you out, too,” Liadun said from the doorway. “You need a woman’s point of view, Archere, and I’m tired of grumpy pants here. He’s making Banshee twitchy, and we don’t want her rattling off her death scream here.”
“By all means, Liadun, keep Banshee under control,” Archere urged.
Liadun nodded and took a seat. She pointedly looked at the wine cabinet, and growling, Jase got to his feet and poured her a red wine.
“Better. Brother, this is a woman’s perspective. One day, you wake up under attack and are hunted, shot, and nearly killed. On awakening, you’re in a strange place with weird strangers. They’ve healed you, but you’re dumped back on a boat with no further contact before you can get answers.
“And creatures start talking to you. Either you’ve gone stark-raving mad, or this is happening. Then you’re told that you have a mate and growing abilities. Next, you are kidnapped and discover all this fantasy stuff exists for real. There are shifters, mermen, and sea dragons, for example. So you’re struggling to understand a world you know nothing about. But you decide to take it in stride. You dig deep and find an inner strength you didn’t know you had.
“And finally, you're told this outlandish story before being dumped in a palace, unwanted by the one person who should love and protect you against everything dangerous. Instead, he tells you he hates your race, but it’s okay; he can tolerate you. In his absence, you are expected to do his job, with no input from him while he gallivants around the world, and you’re left alone.
“Your dreams, wishes, and hopes mean nothing because, as far as he’s concerned, he has everything he wants. He has a mate he can speak to whenever he wants and can carry on with his normal day. Meanwhile, your entire life has turned upside down, and he doesn’t care. Not a single tiny bit. You’re insignificant to him, just a blip on his radar. How do you think Willow feels, Jase?” Liadun snapped.
Jase reared back. He’d not seen it like that. Willow had dealt with a lot and hadn’t even complained once. She had been attacked by assassins, hurt, and left alone. In her shoes, Jase would have thought himself insane. Not Willow. She’d dug deep and made the best of it. She had continued taking each crazy event in her stride and had not faltered. And there he was, whining about how she kicked him out.
“You want a relationship with her, Jase. I know you care about Willow. That’s why you keep sabotaging everything. Because you’re scared she won’t want a monster. But tell me, did Willow flinch from your Uber merman or stand up to him?” Liadun asked.
“She tried to kick my ass,” Jase replied with a proud smile.
“Exactly. Some part of Willow knows and accepts you’d never harm her. And you’ve had plenty of chances, Jase. But Willow is trying to push you into a reaction, and you are running away like a coward,” Liadun said bluntly.
“I prefer Banshee to you,” Jase said sulkily.
“Yeah, not when she announces your death,” Liadun replied, and Jase tilted his head in acknowledgement. “Man up.”
“Liadun is right. You’re hiding feelings behind past grudges and your history with the human race. If Willow wasn’t your equal and soul mate in every way, you wouldn’t have bonded. You want to hate humans, go ahead, but recognise, like Emmaline, Willow is no longer a pure human,” Archere said, and Jase flinched.
“If I finish the mating, I’d have to be inside her, possibly as Poseidon and Uber merman. Do you think Willow wants that trauma?”
“Did you ask her? Explain properly what the mating would bring. Or did you mumble something and disappear?” Liadun challenged.
Jase wracked his brains. “I don’t remember.”
“Oh, hell, bells. I swear none of you have a brain cell between you. Go inform Willow of what a mating looks like and consists of. See what she has to say. Willow must care for you, or she’d have harpooned your ass by now. And did you even open the portal for her court? Give her clothing or toiletries?” Liadun demanded.
Jase flushed. He’d forgotten.
“Seriously?” Liadun exclaimed in disgust. “You better start practising your grovelling!”
Jase concluded his sister wasn’t wrong. Damn, he’d really messed things up.
Willow
She lay on the beach, sunning herself with two new turtle friends she had made. Keeping an eye on her was a pod of humpback dolphins who were just as much a chatterbox as their bottle-nosed dolphins.
Willow had been alone for weeks. Luckily, the little island held plenty of fresh fruit and drinking water, or she might have been in trouble. Willow hadn’t wanted to fish for protein, but the turtles killed and brought her red snapper, sea bass, and grouper. She’d soon learned to clean and cook them. When she asked one of the dolphins if she was wrong in eating them, the dolphin thought she was crazy.
He said it was the circle of the sea; everything ate something. Willow supposed that was true. Everything did eat something. As long as she wasn’t committing a crime against anything, Willow ate the fish. At least the turtles brought them to her already dead. She hated the idea of having to kill them herself.
The weeks she’d been alone had given her time to search her thoughts and feelings. Willow remained angry at Poseidon for leaving her, even though she could have used the whales and dolphins to escape, but it was peaceful here. The sun shone, everything looked pretty, the coral reefs were healthy, and if Willow was right, her presence was giving them a growth spurt. Her coral palace was cosy and also large enough to roam about. Her idea of small and Poseidon’s own clearly came from different places.
Willow was certainly mad at Poseidon. For one thing, he’d stranded her here without any other clothes, and she’d ended up shredding the clothing from Atlantis to make crude bikinis. She wanted to rip him a new one; she had no toiletries and was very careful about sunstroke. She had taken to staying in the palace when the sun was at its hottest and only surfacing at night or early morning. However, today, she wanted to wallow for an hour. Willow knew she looked a mess and hated it.
“Swim,” called Ern, one of the humpback dolphins.
